making news on this wednesday, september 15th. >> tea party power. sending shock waves through the republican party, after several high-profile primary victories. freedom for an american held in iran. and a new plea to free her fellow hikers. and police chase a murder suspect at more than 115 miles per hour before a dramatic capture. and good morning, everybody. thanks for being with us. tea party followers are

celebrating a number of major victories this morning. >> candidates backed by that movement dealt a blow to candidates backed by the republican establishment. and the last big primary day before november. in delaware, the tea party-backed christine o'donnell, beat long-time congressman mike castle, who had a lock on the senate race just weeks ago. >> in new york, carl paladino rushed his opponent for governor, rick lazio, who had the gop's backing. >> kelly ayotte, is in a neck and neck fight with ovide lamontagne. >> for details on these and other races, emily schmidt has been tracking the overnight numbers. >> reporter: good morning to you. usually, the day after the primary, we are talking about the matchups set between republicans and democrats. but this morning, it's a different story. it's a difference between the tea party surge and the republican establishment. last night, the tea party pulled

off some huge surprises. one of the nation's smallest states is now home to one of the year's largest political upsets. >> no more politics as usual. >> reporter: christine o'donnell, a candidate who had run and lost twice for senate before, won this time. she beat long-term congressman and political moderate, mike castle, with the backing of the tea party and sarah palin. >> thank you, governor palin, for your endorsement. >> the voters of the republican primary have spoken. and i respect that decision. >> reporter: republican leaders thought castle could help pick up vice president biden's old seat. and o'donnell could not. >> if she were, by some miracle, to be our nominee, we would lose this seat and lose it by unprecedented numbers. >> reporter: tea party surges continued in new hampshire. and in new york's governor's race, where carl paladino beat party-backed candidate, rick lazio. >> if we've learned anything tonight, it's that new yorkers

are mad at hell. >> reporter: it's a nationwide voter refrain. >> the career politicians need to go for a while. and we need to bring in some fresh people. >> reporter: an american university study of this year's primary races shows 4 million more republicans have voted than democrats. that voter gap could prove critical in november's midterm elections. and new york congressman, charlie rangel, won easily last night, despite 13 ethics charges that are pending against him. he told his supporters, he's returning to washington, stronger than ever. rob and vinita? >> emily schmidt, life in washington this morning. thank you. a few other results now. the once-popular mayor of washington, d.c. has been ousted from office. adrian fenty conceded overnight. some voters said he had become out of touch. >> one-time mtv reality star, sean duffy, won his primary for congress. >> and richard nixon's grandson stumbled on his first entry into politics. chris cox came in third out of

three republican candidates for congress here in new york. now, to a developing story from the middle east. the palestinians are now threatening to walk out of peace talks if the jewish settlements and the west bank issue are not resolved. simon mcgregor-wood is live in jerusalem with a status report. good morning, simon. >> reporter: good morning, vinita. you're absolutely right. jewish settlements, israeli settlements in the occupied territories dominated the area, secretary clinton's talk sessions in sharm el sheikh. they will likely do so again today. she has a full round of talks with the parties here in jerusalem. israel's temporary settlement slowdown expires on the 26th of september. president abbas of the palestinians says, if israel starts building again, i'm going to walk away from this process. netanyahu says, i have to start some building again. and the real challenge for secretary clinton today is to try to find some sort of magic formula to allow the israelis to build enough to keep them

politically satisfied. but not too many homes to force the palestinians to walk away from this fledgling process. so, crucial, so delicately-balanced is the process at the moment, vinita, we understand there's a distinct possibility the two sides might be come to the states, in new york, a summit held by bill clinton, the millennium summit this weekend. and possibly a meeting with president obama early next week in washington. vinita? >> simon mcgregor-wood, in jerusalem this morning. thank you. in california, federal investigators say they have finished collecting evidence at the scene of that terrible gas explosion. now, they're interviewing witnesses and listening to tapes of the emergency calls. most folks thought it was a plane crash. firefighters thought it was a terrorist attack. what they discovered, though, it was a fire, a very hot one. and there was simply no way to fight it. >> we have a major heat. we are trying to move people out of these roads right now. >> we got no matter in this hydrant. i think we got a broken water

main down here. >> residents had been allowed to return for just an hour or so. the gas company has now set up a $100 million fund to help them. a trio of powerful storms is swirling in the tropics this morning. hurricane julia has been intensifying over the last few weeks, packing winds of 125 miles per hour. but hurricane i gar packs an even bigger punch. seen here from space. forecasters say it could hit bermuda if in a few days. tropical storm karl remains a threat to the caribbean coast. in colorado, winds up to 25-mile-per-hour are hurting stemming a wildfire. they have managed to contain 30% of the fire in loveland. and now, for this morning's weather from around the nation. wet weather in the pacific northwest. while the rest of the west coast, mild and seasonable. storms in the great plains and upper midwest.

mild, dry and pleasant on the east coast. windy in denver. and hot in the south and southwest. >> it will be 105 in phoenix. 90s from dallas to new orleans. cool and 54 in fargo. 66 in minneapolis. mostly 70s along the east coast. and when we come back this morning, an american's first morning of freedom in more than a year. now, there's some new concern for her friends, still being held in iran. and how would you like to spend a six-hour flight in one of these very tight seats? the new economy class, coming up.

the price of gold hit an all-time high tuesday. gold rose to nearly $1,275 an ounce. and is now up 16% this year. a big reason is that gold is traditionally a safe haven for investors during times of economic uncertainty. turning, now, to your stocks. tokyo's nikkei average jumped 2.3%, after japan took actions to protect exporters. in london, the ftse opened slightly lower. the nasdaq added four points. senate democrats have handed president obama a big victory. they've broken a republican filibuster, clearing a way for a bill that would create a $30 billion fund for small business loans. the bill also includes 12 billion in tax breaks in big and small businesses. a final vote is expected later this week. toyota is taking steps to dismiss hundreds of lawsuits

claiming sudden acceleration in its vehicles. the automaker has filed papers in a federal court in california, saying lawsuits filed to identify any defects in its vehicles. all the federal cases against toyota were consolidated in this one court. if you think coach seats are cramped now, you're not going to like this. an italian company has introduced the sky rider. it offers just 23 inches of legroom, compared to an average of 32 inches, allowing airlines to pack more passengers on planes. the faa would have to approve the new design. >> no thanks to those seats. the latest oprah giveaway is still making news. it turns out that the australian government is picking up the $3 million tab to bring the studio audience and oprah's staffers down under. it's an effort to boost tourism. oprah was criticized in 2004, when audience members who got free cars ended up owing thousands in taxes. some australians not happy, huh? >> have to pick up that tab. coming up next on this

wednesday, a delta pilot busted for drinking just before a flight. plus, a mass evacuation at the eiffel tower overnight. was politics involved? and a dangerous chase through the streets of houston with a dramatic end. [ male uncer ] mix it.

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unclear. t.j. winning has shourd's happy reunion with her family. >> reporter: it was a much-anticipated and loving reunion at the oman airport. sarah shourd is headed back to the united states, after 14 months in an iranian prison. >> i want to offer my thanks to everyone in the world. all of the governments. all of the people that have been involved. >> reporter: the only contact with the outside world during her confinement came in may. a brief, tearful visit with her mother. a mother who now says her daughter is sick, with a potentially precancerous condition. >> i want to address president ahmad jat and the iranian officials and the leaders. and thank them for this humanitarian gesture. i'm thankful. and i'm very humbled by this moment. >> reporter: despite sarah's release, her fiance, shane bauer, and josh fattal, remain behind bars. they were arrested for entering

iran illegally and accuse of being spies. >> this is our only mission. we believe they will be home. >> reporter: the state department, which had called the three americans' detentioned by the rogue state, illegal and inhumane, applauded the development. >> iran had shown compassion in the case of sarah shourd. we hope thaao iran would show the same compassion, with respect to the other hikers. >> reporter: though shourd was released on bail, she is not expected to return to iran to face trial. rob and vinita? the state department is issuing a challenge to iran's president ahmadinejad, bring home the two americans still in prison. ahmadinejad is due in new york next week for the u.n. general assembly. a bomb threat shut down the eiffel tower in paris last night. several thousand people were evacuated while police searched the landmark. an anonymous caller made the threat from a pay phone.

no explosives were found. a second bomb threat closed a subway station near notre dame cathedral. it may or may not be coincidence, but the french senate voted to ban the islamic veil in public. some muslims fear it will stigmatize them even more. dutch police say they have arrested an american pilot at the amsterdam airport for being intoxicated. he was arrested in the cockpit of an airline jet that was about to take off. an unnamed crew member was suspended. and the flight from amsterdam to newark was canceled. we'll have more on this story on "good morning america." in houston, a murder suspect is in custody after a very high-speed chase. police say a man hijacked this car at gun point. then, drove away at speeds of over 115 miles per hour. he slammed into a pick jaap truck with four people inside. he then took off on foot. tossing what looked like guns as

he ran away. he eventually ran to the ground when a police cruiser overtook him. he then was arrested. former pop star, george michael, is heading to jail. michael was sentenced to eight weeks in jail and the loss of his driver's license, after crashing his car into a london shop. the judge told the singer that his addiction to marijuana put him and the public at risk. it is official. jennie from the block is now jenny from "american idol." superstar singer jennifer lopez has signed a $12 million deal to be a judge on the hit tv show. talks for lopez to join the show had broken down a while back. but singer and producers managed to agree to a deal. well, it's a stunner in the world of sports. nfl star reggie bush says he's giving back the heisman trophy that he won five years ago. it's the first time in the 75-year history of the heisman that a winner has returned the award given to the nation's top college player. the ncaa found that bush was ineligible to play because he got improper benefits. some baseball highlights,

now, from espn news. >> good morning. i'm steve weissman with your espn news update. we begin with a tight race in the a.l. east. yanks come in a half-game behind tampa bay. they trailed by 6-0, at one point. bottom of the fifth. now down two. willy aybar. sixth jack of the year. rays score zen unanswered. go up 7-6. bottom nine, now tied at 7-7. ben zobrist. a drive to center. but check out curtis granderson. full extension. he scored two runs for the yanks. equally important, the prevention of runs. so, we stay tied. top ten, jorge posada. 0 for 10 as a pinch hitter this year. what a time to break out. his 18th home run of the season. yankees love it. they're up 8-7. move to the bottom of the tenth. yanks have lost three of their last four in walkoff fashion. will it happen again? matt joyce, fly ball to right. carl crawford, he's been second. tags.

tries to go to third. brett golson, the september callup with the gun. throws him out. yanks regain the lead in the a.l. east. how about the national league west? padres, with a half-game lead over san francisco, taking on the rockies. bottom of the ninth. colorado, down one. eric young jr., grounds into the 6-3 double-play. padres hold on to win. they've won back-to-back against the rockies for the first time all year. that's your espn news update. i'm steve weissman. back to you in new york. >> our thanks to espn. coming up next, we'll update the important overnight primary results. a few big surprises, like delaware, where the underdog beat the veteran. on top of that, one candy giant's announcement today about the future of what? chocolate. those stories and more when we come right back. i was not good to my skin.as se, long summer days, an not enough sleep.

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secretary of state clinton is in jerusalem for the next stage in middle east peace talks. palestinians are now threatening to walk out of negotiations, if israel doesn't extend its curb on jewish settlement construction in the west bank. talks could resume in new york this weekend. online listings giant, craigslist, will explain to a congressional committee later today, why it removed ads for adult services. the popular site has been accused of indirectly supporting the trafficking of minors. and a scientific breakthrough that allows for better production of cocoa crops around the world is expected to be announced today. mars, ibm and the usda will explain how they mapped the cocoa genome, hoping to prevent shortages. a stronger tree. that stands up to more things. that means more chocolate for us. coming up later on "good morning america," love handle liquidation. two, new medical procedures that promise to get rid of the pesky fat deposit. one freezes the cells.

the other zaps them with a laser. is either a safe method. for some of you, your local news is coming up next. >> and for everyone else, "america this morning" continues right after this. [ animals calling ] ♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ well, we get along ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light. time to face the pollen that used to make me sneeze... my eyes water. but now zyrtec®, the fastest 24-hour allergy relief, comes in a liquid gel. zyrtec® liquid gels work fast, so i can love the air®.

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and finally this morning, 1 of the 33 miners trapped deep below the surface in chile, has one more reason to be eager to go home. his first child was born yesterday. >> her arrival has teared up, not just her father, and his companions, and an entire nation. jeffrey kofman has the story. >> reporter: elizabeth was almost eight months pregnant when the mine collapsed, trapping her husband and 32 others. that was 40 days ago. i've been trying to remain calm, she said last week. but from deep in the mine, elizabeth's husband sent her a message. she should stay at home, he said, not in the camp, because she is pregnant. but it is hard for anyone to

relax, knowing that a loved one is trapped half a mile underground. they were going to call the baby carolina. instead, they're calling her esperanza, spanish for hope. this is not a reality show. this is real life. but it has all the ingredients of reality tv that no one would dare dream up. harrowing drama. 32 men trapped for 40 days. enduring starvation, heat and humidity. after 17 anxious days, they were found alive, having formed their own tribal culture. an ending yet to be written. the best guess says they might get out in another two months. a heaping dose of mellowdrama. family feuds. a marriage proposal. that baby born. jeffrey kofman, abc news, at